Reed: New game day parking restrictions target freshman

Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by the Collegian or its editorial board.

With a new on-campus football stadium, Colorado State University is asking its students to perform a ridiculous favor. The school will now be requesting a plethora of students to move their cars by a specific time prior to game day or else they will be paying a price. The school is asking of too much, already seeing how parking around campus is a prominent issue.

Parking has been an issue at Colorado State University, and now it is marginalizing our freshman class. I believe asking students to move their cars on game day will directly effect freshman, and there needs to be another solution then the one in place.

It is unclear how the university will handle traffic issues related to the new field. However, one large question that must not be overlooked is: where the heck are students supposed to park?

Currently CSU is making it mandatory that students move their cars from the following lots the day before game day:

Hughes Way – lot #210

Hughes Way – lot #410

Ingersoll Hall – #215

Edwards Hall – lot #220

Academic Village – lot #230

Newsom Hall – lot #236

Braiden Hall – lot #470

Green Hall – Lot #164

Summit Hall – lot #245

Students are offered to park their vehicles to parking lots associated with:

Westfall – lot #115

Parmelee – lot #145

University Square – lot #575

South College Avenue Garage – lot #577

If cars are not moved between 4 and 8 PM on Friday, the day before kick-off, they will be towed and issued a parking citation. CSU specifically mentioned on their website, “all towing fees and citations are the sole responsibility of the individual registered to the vehicle.”

The first Friday that students are expected to move will be August 25, when CSU takes on Oregon State during the stadiums inaugural game. Throughout the season, students of the university will be asked to move their vehicles a total of six times.

Further dates that scholars must move their cars include:

September 8

October 13

October 27

November 10

November 17

The parking related inconveniences have the potential to add to the current parking problems around CSU’s campus. Parking around the university has been bad enough in the past that students resulted in choosing to park just off of campus for free. However, there have been some changes to that as of recent. (The most effected group is freshman)

In March, The City of Fort Collins increased the boundaries of its Residential Parking Program (RP3) to accommodate for the influx of parking surrounding campus. The borders of the program now encompass parking zones north of campus between Laurel and Mulberry Street. Moreover, the program covers zones from Remington east to Peterson, as well as Edwards south to Prospect.

Areas in around campus have been recently labeled two-hour parking zones, where anyone may park for the allotted for two hours,once per day. Residents already living in these areas qualify for free parking permits for street parking, however, must pay a fee for more than one permit. Residents are also permitted two guest vehicles per parking permit. Those who do not qualify for these permits, i.e. students, will receive parking citations if found parked in one of these locations for more than the allowed two hours.

The CSU administration should work to find solutions to make everyones freshman year more enjoyable by providing less stressful alternatives to parking on game day. Furthermore, with off-campus parking become less and less of an option, parking around CSU in general is becoming more stressful for students, and the current plan plan to alleviate that stress is certainly not a RAM welcome.

Spencer Reed can be reached at letters@collegian and online at @sbreed96.

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